This invention relates to a control section for a radio receiver which receives and decodes information transmitted in coded form in the Radio Data System (RDS) in its Traffic Message Channel (TMC).
A driver normally has to go through lengthy and complex routines in order to extract the desired information from the multitude of data in the RDS-TMC system, which will distract him from driving.
German Patent DE 3,536,820 describes a receiver which, after it has been switched on, reproduces the previously received, decoded and stored traffic messages one time. Subsequently, the latest messages are reproduced. Earlier messages are not repeated. Thus, when the receiver is switched on the whole sequence of traffic messages is reproduced once.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,159 discloses a control section for an RDS receiver, comprising an LCD screen and a plurality of keys for selection of the desired information. The received traffic messages are stored arranged according to areas. Nevertheless, the driver each time has to specify the preferential area because the receiver is not capable of storing and retrieving the desired area about which the driver wishes to receive information.